MasHD Blog

The Samsung Galaxy lineup has taken the smartphone world by storm, but for the past two years the Koreans have been subjected to heavy criticism over their preference of plastic panels. If latest rumors are to be believed, though, this might change next year. According to the latest reports coming from Samsung's homeland, the manufacturer is planning on changing the Galaxies design and switch from plastic to metal. There were some earlier rumors about Samsung showing interest in carbon fiber too. The most likely candidates to replace the plastic are aluminum and magnesium. The new design and premium shells will premiere with the top of the line devices and then carry over to cheaper models. This means the new design language will probably debut with the Galaxy S5 next spring. It is also rumored that Samsung is already working on new designs and is testing new materials in its factories in South Korea, but also exporting some of the work to Vietnam. We hope those rumors turn o

The virtually redundant telegram service in Sri Lanka will come to a stop from October, this year, the Information Technology and Telecommunication Ministry announced a short while ago. Only an average of 50 telegrams are being sent daily, it said. Sri Lanka Post is the oldest government department, which operates the service set up by colonial Dutch rulers in 1798. The British later expanded the service across the country using horse-drawn coaches to deliver mail. ( DailyMirror.lk )

Nokia Lumia 1520, previously known as Bandit, is rumored to feature a 6" 1080p display and run on the latest Snapdragon 800 chipset. Other alleged specs include a 20MP camera on the back, wireless charging support, a polycarbonate body and Windows Phone 8 GDR3. Today we get to see what is allegedly a live photo of the phablet. How we know it's indeed the 6" Lumia 1520? Well, the phones next to it is the recently launched Lumia 1020 and it's easily dwarfed by the Lumia 1520. A few months back  we saw a picture of the front glass of a 6" Lumia phablet and it looks the Lumia 1520 is using the same panel. So we guess the Lumia 1520 existence is pretty certain at this point and all we have to wait for is for Nokia to announce it officially. Yesterday's Nokia press event in Moscow turned out to be about the Nokia 515 not the Lumia 1520. We guess the official premiere will happen about the same time all other phablets are going to war - sometime in September.( G

In a surprising twist of events, Vice President of Android - Hugo Barra - has decided to move on from Google and join Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi. The news was first broken by AllThingsD and was later confirmed by Barra in a post on Google+. He would be joining Xiaomi Global in China as their Vice President and "help them expand their incredible product portfolio and business globally". Barra joined Google back in 2008 and for the past few years has been the face of Android, appearing in all recent Google keynotes for product announcements. While leaving, Barra praised the Android team, calling them "the most amazing group of people I've ever worked with in my life" and especially calling out Andy Rubin (who left the Android team recently), Hiroshi Lockheimer, Sundar Pichai and Vic Gundotra. Google is yet to announce who will be taking on the role of Barra in his absence.

The Nokia 515 has been introduced by the Finnish based manufacturer. Powered by Series 40, the phone is made of sturdy anodized aluminum and features a 2.4 inch QVGA LCD display made with Gorilla Glass 2. The keypad is produced using a polycarbonate resin. The Nokia 515 sports a 5MP snapper with an LED flash, 256MB of native storage and and 32GB capacity microSD slot. The handset will be released next month with stops in Russia, Germany, Switzerland and Poland. And the device will be offered in single SIM and dual SIM models with dualband HSDPA (900 / 2100) and quadband GSM / EDGE connectivity. The phone is priced at 115 EUR ($150 USD). If you thought that Series 40 phones were dead, here is a new model that shows you that there is life in the ol' boy still. And with a 3.5G HSDPA connection, it still provides the speed that you need. The Nokia 515 is available in black and white and with the Easy Swap Dual SIM model, you can change SIM cards without turning off the phone.

Once again evleaks brings us some juicy information on phones that are yet to become official. This time it's about two upcoming Asha handsets previously rumored as Pegasus and Lanai. Nokia Pegasus / Nokia Lanai = Asha 502 / Asha 503 (doubleshot) — @evleaks (@evleaks) August 28, 2013 Nokia Lanai will be called Asha 503 and we've already seen it leaking in February in four pictures. It will look much like the firstborn of the refreshed Asha lineup - the Asha 501. However, the Nokia Asha 503 will replace the hardware Back key with a capacitive one and will have its entire front will be covered by a curved glass. You can also spot the 5MP rear camera with a LED flash. Naturally, the Asha 503 will get a dual-SIM version. Nokia Pegasus is bound to go official as Nokia Asha 502, but we know nothing besides the name for that one. The Asha 502 should slide between the Asha 501 and the Asha 503 in the pecking order. ( GSMArena )

The latest leaked images of the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 show off what is allegedly the front panel of the devices. While no measurements were provided alongside the images, according to previous leaks the device is set to feature a 5.7-inch diagonal - up from the 5.5" on the Note II. After many different values for the screen diagonal of the Note III, the rumor mill seems to have settled on 5.7". That would make for another 0.2" jump, after the original Note had a 5.3" screen, and its sequel had a 5.5" display. Note that the image is a composite of two separate shots that have been scaled to match the alleged 5.7" diagonal of the Note III. More interesting is that the bezels are thinner (they measure just 2.2mm) and the whole panel is barely bigger. Depending on how the sides of the phone are made, the Note III can be as little as 1mm taller and wider than the Note II. Not seen in this photo, but the new panel is reportedly thinner too.

Enough with those iPhone rumors, models, shells and parts. Let's talk about iOS 7 now. Apple unveiled the new OS back in June and promised to release it this fall. There is no official date though, just a few beta releases with the latest one feeling very much like a final product. There is a rumor Apple will be holding the iPhone announcement event on September 10, while a previous information suggested the iOS 7 Golden Master build will be seeded on September 5. Now, an email NUANCE, the company behind Siri, sent to a developer suggests the iOS 7 general availability (GA) will come on September 10. This coincides nicely with the Apple's iPhone event rumor and adds lots of extra credibility to it.Se There is a chance though NUANCE meant GM - Gold Master - instead of GA. Anyway, you take this with a pinch of salt but as September is already upon us and we'll know soon if these rumors hold any water.

A new report coming from Korea reveals Samsung is working on a 16MP camera module with optical image stabilization. The new sensor is intended to be used in company's upcoming Galaxy flagships. Unfortunately Samsung's suppliers won't make enough sensors in time for the Galaxy Note III release. This means that the new camera will most probably premiere with the Galaxy S5 next year according to the report. Samsung already has a smartphone with a 16MP OIS camera - the Galaxy S4 Zoom - but it's a hybrid device with 10x optical zoom and therefore it's pretty huge. Samsung will unveil the Galaxy Note III next month in Berlin, so we'll know soon enough if those new sensors will make it to the phablet or not.

Xolo has officially announced its Q1000S flagship smartphone in India. The newest addition comes with an elegant design and is only 6.98mm thick. Xolo Q1000S also offers impressive features and hardware specifications for the price tag it carries. The Xolo Q1000S comes with a 5-inch 720p IPS display with OGS technology, which makes the colors more vibrant. Under the hood, the Q1000S packs a 1.5 GHz quad-core MediaTek processor along with 1 GB of RAM. The Xolo Q1000S feature sets continues with a 13 megapixel rear camera with BSI 2 sensor, 5 megapixel front facing shooter, 16 GB of internal memory and Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. The juice for the smartphone is provided by a 2,500mAh battery which, according to the company, lasts for about 53 hours on music playback, up to 327 hours stand-by on 3G and 425 hours on 2G or up to 22.5 hours of 2G, 12.5 hours of 3G talk-time. Xolo Q1000S is priced at INR18,999 (about $300) and will be available over the coming weeks.( GSMArena )

The Sony Xperia Z1, erstwhile known as 'Honami', has leaked once again, this time through a press image. This latest image shows the device in three colors: black, white and purple. The colors are identical to the ones the Xperia Z is sold in and the device itself looks remarkably similar. One major difference between the exterior of the Z and the Z1, however, is the metal frame that runs around the device. It's unclear whether the metal acts are merely the frame for the device or also doubles up as the antenna as on the iPhone. The Xperia Z1 is Sony's upcoming flagship Android smartphone that has been rumored for quite some time now. It is said to have a 5.0-inch FullHD display, quad-core 2.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, 2GB RAM, 20 megapixel camera and all the bells and whistles you expect from a flagship Android device these days. The Xperia Z1 is expected to be announced officially at an event in Berlin on September 4.( GsmArena ) you can follow rel

If you’ve been dealing with multitouch issues on your Nexus 7 tablet after installing the previous update, another software update promises to provide a fix. The JSS15Q update is now available for the tablet, offering an all-around fix to the troublesome multitouch problem, according to Paul Wilcox, the Google community manager. Wilcox confirmed on the Google product forums today that the JSS15Q update does fix the multitouch issue initially brought about because of the similarly-named, JSS15J update. He addressed the issue directly: This update does address the touchscreen issues discussed in this thread. If you’re one of the people experiencing touchscreen issues, please let us know how it’s going after you’ve received and installed the update. Users on the forum do seem to indicate that the results are positive, though there may be some additional issues to work out that may or may not be related to multitouch functionality. Positive results have also been reported over on t

Following the announcement of its new Cintiq Companion tablets earlier this evening, Wacom has also taken the wraps off its new stylus for the iPad. The Wacom Intuos Creative Stylus aims to make sketching on the tablet feel realistic, offering pressure-sensitive functionality and a specialized design aimed at comfortable handling. The Intuos Creative Stylus, as mentioned, features pressure-sensitive touch, allowing the user to draw or paint in a more realistic fashion than some offerings allow. Wacom says the device offers a “realistic pen-on-paper feel” that provides a tactile, perhaps nostalgic, feel to the act of digital drawing on the iPad. The stylus is compatible with several drawing apps. Among these apps is the company’s own Bamboo Paper, Autodesk’s SketchBook Pro, ArtRage, ProCreate, and Psykopaint. In addition to offering pressure sensitivity, the stylus also features a design that allows it to fit in one’s handle comfortably, says Wacom, being made of brushed aluminum

Wacom has taken the wraps off its two new Cintiq tablets, the Cintiq Companion running Windows 8 and the Cintiq Companion Hybrid running Android. Both allow users to take their graphic work on the road, although the Hybrid Android version is more limited than the Windows 8 variety. Both will begin rolling out later this year, with the Hybrid coming first. First up is the Cintiq Companion model, which features third-generation Intel Core processors and Intel HD Graphics 4000, as well as 8GB of RAM. The amount of on-board storage depends on which model you get, with two being offered: 16GB and 32GB. This model can run full versions of software used by professionals, and can be a complete experience in and of itself. The Cintiq Companion Hybrid, meanwhile, runs Android when used standalone, and can also funciton as a traditional Cintiq slate when connected to a PC or Mac. This tablet offers less functionality when used as a portable device, with Wacom calling it a “digital sketchpad

Headphone manufacturer Beats by Dre is looking to buy back the stake in the company held by HTC as it seeks a new partner willing to put some fresh cash in the business. Only a couple of months ago, market conditions forced the company to discard a $700 million debt offering that seemingly was a win-win for the company and its owners. It would have provided the company with a war chest of hundreds of millions of dollars for acquisitions and would have paid off the founders of the company (Jimmy Iovine and Dr.Dre) with a handsome dividend without forcing them to give up control of the company. But fears of rising interest rates and the company's low credit rating put a kibosh on the offering in June. Beats would like to buy out the 25% stake in the company owned by Taiwan based handset manufacturer HTC. Originally, when HTC purchased the investment, it started including a special pair of Beats earbuds in the box with its new Android flavored smartphones, a practice that HTC even

Oppo just announced the R819 – an Android-powered dual-SIM phone. The handst is just 7.3mm thick and is a featherweight at just 110g, quite impressive for a phone with a 4.7" screen. Oppo will be providing two ROMs for the phone – a stock Android 4.2.1 ROM and a customized Color ROM. The Oppo R819 has a 4.7" OGS LCD (One Glass Solution by LG) with 720p resolution and 312ppi pixel density. Inside is a Mediatek MT6589 chipset with a quad-core Cortex-A7 CPU at 1.2GHz, 1GB of RAM and PowerVR SGX544 GPU. A 2,000mAh battery powers the phone and there's 16GB of non-expandable storage. The main camera uses a Sony Exmor 8MP BSI sensor and a fast F/2.0 lens, while the front-facing camera has a wide-angle 88° lens. Both cameras can shoot 1080p video. The smartphone has quad-band 2G support and tri-band 3G support and works with two microSIM cards, with dual-standby support. The Oppo R819 is available for preorder online right now and will ship in early September. Pricing for Aus

The Taiwanese site ePrice has got hold of a live image of the HTC One Max posing for a family photo HTC One Mini and HTC One. The said shot reveals an HTC One Max feature that we haven't heard of so far - a fingerprint scanner. Last week, evleaks outed an allegedly official render of the HTC One Max, which doesn't have a fingerprint reader on its back. This makes us think that the cool feature might just be available for select regions. Judging from the photo, the HTC One Max appears to have 3 dock connectors, which suggest that it will be getting such an accessory at launch. The HTC One Max is rumored to come with a 5.9" 1080p display, Snapdragon 800 chipset and 64GB of built-in memory. Robert Downey Jr. is already working hard to promote a mysterious device in HTC’s new ad campaign 'Here’s To Change' that's most probably the One Max itself. HTC is expected to lift the curtains of the One Max in September. According to the latest rumors, we should expect t

Alcatel introduced the One Touch Scribe, and Scribe X models, alongside the One Touch Idol Ultra, at the beginning of 2013, at CES. We haven’t heard too many thing about these devices but we’re now hearing that the company might be working on a six-inch phablet (bumping the screen size from five-inches in the devices named above). The image above purportedly describes the OneTouch Scribe Pro, with a six-inch display of yet unknown resolution. Accompanying that is a quad-core processor with speeds of 1.5GHz, a 13.1-megapixel camera, 3,400mAh battery and dual-SIM operation. There’s also a stylus and a very interesting flip cover concept with built-in LEDs. August (this month) is rumored as an availability date and the price is shocking: $300, in Hong Kong.

People sending email to any of Google's 425 million Gmail users have no "reasonable expectation" that their communications are confidential, the internet giant has said in a court filing. Consumer Watchdog, the advocacy group that uncovered the filing, called the revelation a "stunning admission." It comes as Google and its peers are under pressure to explain their role in the National Security Agency's (NSA) mass surveillance of US citizens and foreign nationals. "Google has finally admitted they don't respect privacy," said John Simpson, Consumer Watchdog's privacy project director. "People should take them at their word; if you care about your email correspondents' privacy, don't use Gmail." Google set out its case last month in an attempt to dismiss a class action lawsuit that accuses the tech giant of breaking wire tap laws when it scans emails sent from non-Google accounts in order to target ads to Gmail user

Intricately carved tokens from a nearly 5,000-year old board game have been unearthed in southeast Turkey, reports Discovery News. The 49 found pieces may be the oldest gaming tokens ever recovered, and they should help to back the current theory that board games originated in the Middle East over five millennia ago. "Some [tokens] depict pigs, dogs, and pyramids, others feature round and bullet shapes," Haluk Sağlamtimur, a researcher with Ege University who helped to uncover the tokens, tells Discovery. The researchers also found dice and circular tokens among the pieces, which were painted in colors including black, blue, green, red, and white. The tokens were found at Başur Höyük, a burial plot in Turkey. In the past, similar pieces have been found in both Syria and Iraq, but not as part of a set. "They were found as isolated, single objects," Sağlamtimur tells Discovery. "Our gaming pieces were found all together in the same cluster. It's a unique

Just like the Samsung Galaxy S4, the Samsung Galaxy Note III is allegedly going to launch in a couple of versions each sporting a different chipset under the hood. Apparently, SamMobile has got hold of a list of countries to which Samsung is going to distribute the Galaxy Note III powered by the Exynos 5420 Octa chipset and the Snapdragon 800 variants. The Exynos 5420-powered Galaxy Note III is listed under the SM-N9000 model name, while the Galaxy Note III with Snapdragon 800 goes by the SM-N9005 name and it is the one to sport LTE connectivity. Unfortunately, the Exynos-one lacks 4G network support. Both versions are going to pack 3GB of snappy LPDDR3 RAM. Here's a quote from SamMobile's source regarding availability of both versions of the Galaxy Note III in countries where LTE is available. If your country gets both processor variants, it is a decision based on the marketing plan of Samsung. Which means if there are LTE networks in your country, Samsung will start wit

Amazon’s Silk web browser, which comes built into Kindle Fire devices, has received its first major upgrade since September 2012, the company announced today. Though there have been steady under-the-hood improvements over time, this is the first release since last fall to introduce consumer-facing changes to the way the browser looks and behaves, including a new tutorial, redesigned tabs, better browser controls, simpler navigation options, and easier access to Silk’s Reading View feature. One of the new features rolling out today has to do with how Silk appears to first-time users. Like many apps do today, the browser now launches with a brief tutorial to explain its features. Instead of screens you have to swipe through, Silk adopts the “overlay” interface which darkens the background to point out various navigational buttons like the Action Menu, Reading View, and Left Panel slider, for example, which is where users can view their Most Visited pages, Bookmarks, and History. Bu

For two years, LG has seemingly abandoned the booming Android tablet market, after the 8.9-inch Optimus Pad disappointed critics and failed to attract customers. But it looks that LG has been plotting a comeback. The first clue was a trademark filing that included the term “G Pad”, among a few others, suggesting that the Korean manufacturer was working behind the scenes on a new tablet. Now according to the Greek site TechBlog, the G Pad is not only real, but it’s coming our way in just a few weeks. Citing sources with knowledge of the device, TechBlog claims that the G Pad features an 8.9-inch display of 1920 × 1200 resolution, which translates to an approximate pixel density of 247 ppi. An unspecified quad-core processor (probably a Snapdragon 600 or 800) and 2GB of RAM will power the device. In terms of design, the G Pad is reportedly going to feature an aluminum back, and, despite the size of its display, it will be narrow and thin enough to fit in a pocket. LG’s new Androi

Apple has its dewy lifestyle ads, Samsung its combination of aggressive insults and sheer unfettered lunacy. And if a new ad starring Robert Downey Jr. is any indication, HTC has decided to just throw initialisms at the wall and see what sticks. The company released a short teaser of the campaign on Monday, and now we've got a full two minutes that will be shown on TV and in theaters as well as online. Eventually, HTC has said it's going to start showcasing the actual features of its phones, but for now, we're still firmly in non sequitur territory. Does HTC stand for Humongous Tinfoil Catamaran? Does it stand for Hold This Cat? Does it stand for a sinister cube full of kissing cheerleaders, rolling clowns, and jujitsu apes, all trapped in terrariums at the whim of a madman? The upshot, we're told, is that HTC is a "Happy Telephone Company," which is perhaps unintentionally much funnier than any of the self-consciously random sight gags. Granted, HTC's n

Canadian smartphone maker BlackBerry  has launched the BlackBerry 9720. The price of the phone has not been made official. The new phone will take a reverse mode as far as its operating system is concerned. Instead of the latest BlackBerry 10 platform, the new phone will run OS 7.1 version. The phone, to be available in five different colours, features a full physical QWERTY keyboard. The 2.8-inch touchscreen device packs a 806MHz Tavor MG1 processor. It has an internal storage of 512MB of RAM, expandable 32 GB using microSD card. There is no front facing camera in the phone, however, with a 5-megapixel rear camera you can get a 4X digital zoom. BlackBerry 9720 has dedicated BBM and BBM Voice shortcut keys, placed on the sides of the device. The phone will be available in a couple of weeks in select markets— Asia, EMEA and Latin America. Key Specifications 2.8-inch display 360x480 pixels resolution 806MHz Tavor MG1 processor 5-megapixel rear camera BlackBerry 7 OS (vers

If you recall, earlier this month the encrypted email service Lavabit abruptly shutdown, killing the service for over 400,000 users in one swoop. Following that, another encrypted email service run by Silent Circle was preemptively shutdown. Although Ladar Levison, the creator of Lavabit, is under a gag order that prevents him from talking about the particulars of the situation, he isn’t keeping silent on the matter. Lavabit, an encrypted email service that has been around for many years, shutdown on August 8 with a note on the home page from its founder stating that he’d been entangled in a legal issue for weeks before the decision, and that he was not authorized to discuss what it concerned. He did say, however, that he made the decision to shut down the service to avoid being “complicit in crimes against the American people.” He wrapped it up with a rather ominous warning that users should avoid trusting their private data to US corporations. Although he still has not given any

Philips kind of blew our minds with the hue, which is an LED lightbulb that can be controlled with your smartphone or computer. Of course, though, there had to be a catch, and it seems like that catch is that the lightbulb is easily hackable, allowing users with a dark mind to put the lights out on an unsuspecting Philips hue owner. How does the hack work, exactly? Research by Nitesh Dhanjani reveals that hue’s control system uses a less-than-secure authentication system that’s used to communicate with devices in order to turn on and off lights. How secure is this authentication system? Well, it just uses the MAC address, which is highly easy to breach into. All it takes is a little bit of malware to be installed into the control system and hackers will be able to reveal the lightbulb’s MAC address. From there, they can turn the lightbulb on and off without having the owner’s device on hand. Of course, the hack won’t steal any personal information (unless you store your personal i

One of the more unusual smartphone rumors to come our way this summer has been one about Sony and plans for an external add-on phone camera accessory. More than just a lens, the product was supposed to be some sort of all-in-one camera that affixed to the rear of an existing phone and wirelessly communicated with the handset. We were very much skeptical at the time, but today a new leak sure seems to confirm those claims, and gives us a nice, clear look at how this product could launch. Supposedly, there will be at least two of these camera accessories, Sony’s models DSC-QX10 and DSC-QX100. The former would have an 18-megapixel 1/2.3-inch CMOS sensor, while the latter would get a big 20.2-megapixel one-inch component. Both would have internal batteries, and support SD cards for storage, but all camera controls would be done wireless through smartphone software. Apps supporting the lens-cameras are expected to be available for both iPhone and Android. While this now seems very m

In a strange move by ZTE, the company is planning to sell its latest handset in the US and UK by listing it on eBay. Of course, this wouldn’t the first time that companies have resorted to eBay for selling their products, but it’s interesting to see a mobile phone maker sell their devices directly through eBay instead of their own website. The phone is called the ZTE Open, and it will feature the Firefox OS, making it one of the first of several such devices to release in the US. The phone will be sold exclusively in orange for just $80 unlocked. And because it’s unlocked, Mozilla says that the phone won’t come with any local apps or features, meaning no bloatware! Why the aim to sell on eBay, though? Essentially, it’s all about bringing the ZTE Open to more consumers around the world, and the low price point and availability on eBay should give more customers the opportunity to purchase the new phone and use it how they see fit. The name of device really says it all. The UK pr

Ah, Alcatel – who would have thought that this particular company has managed to last this long in the smartphone market? While Alcatel’s market share in the world of smartphones can be said to be miniscule – so much so that you can ignore them, they have not given up on the battle just yet. In fact, earlier this year, we have seen our fair share of handsets that fall under the Alcatel One Touch Idol family, including the One Touch Idol X and the One Touch Idol Ultra which was in with a shout to be the thinnest Android-powered smartphone in the market, too. Well, to take a cue from the rest of the other smartphone manufacturers out there, Alcatel has decided to work on a One Touch Idol Mini handset – or at least, according to the leaked press render from serial leaksters @evleaks as you can see above. Unfortunately, no hardware specifications were attached to the leaked press render that you see above, but considering how Alcatel hardly dukes it out with the rest in the high end ma

Remember when HTC decided to add its own contributions to the One Mini rumor mill by using its own infographic? It seems the Taiwan-based company is following the same trend with the HTC One Max, a device that we've heard about for what seems like months. On its official Twitter account, it posted a teaser in the form of a six-second Vine, three simple words and a hashtag: "big things ahead. #HTChange." Take from that what you will, but it seems to us that this particular tease means we'll be seeing the larger variant of the One sooner rather than later. ( Engadget )

Following Edward Snowden’s NSA-related leaks, government intrusion into one’s data via the technology that permeates our lives has been a hot-topic issue (you can read more by clicking the PRISM tag below, spurring other leaks and anonymous statements of arguably less grand proportions. One such example is a rep ort by The Wall Street Journal this evening, which spoke to former U.S. officials and sources familiar with technology they say the FBI uses to spy on suspects. The information comes from different sources said to be familiar with methods the FBI uses to gather data from the cyber sphere, as well as court documents that reveal some of these investigative tools. According to these sources, the use of spyware and other similar software via court order is increasing, perhaps not surprising considering the increasing rate of technology adoption. The means of spying covers a wide range of methods, among them being the use of spyware for both desktop and mobile devices that is